Dialogue in literature: encoding speech patterns from one culture to another in historical fiction -

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

Have you ever read a work of historical fiction where the characters were deliberately written to speak with American regional accents?
Have you ever wanted to write a work that did?

The reason I ask is because I've been toying with this idea for a while. I first came across something similar in Assassins' Creed: Unity (yes, vidya, but I'm interested in the application of this to literature). In Unity, the game was set in the French Revolution, but the characters mostly spoke with British accents, which the developers justified by saying it made it feel more "historical." At first I hated this, but over time I came to see a real strength in this approach. Because they were using British accents, they were able to give characters familiar accents that conveyed character traits more easily. A poorer-class character, for example, would be portrayed with a Cockney accent, while an upper-class character was portrayed with a posh Queen's English accent. Although the characters were French, and there was a sense of dissonance where I never felt fully immersed in French, I found that the characterization was more effective than if they had been hon hon baguette.

I then found out that this sort of cultural translating is common in visual media. In Japan, for example, they have a specific province (can't remember which) which has similar stereotypes as the American South, and so when Japanese versions of American movies/TV shows are made, they'll give characters who speak like Southerners voices like that province of Japan. Again, although authenticity is sacrificed, characterization is strengthened. The Japanese, in this case, might not have the familiarity with English to distinguish a "redneck" from a sophisticate, but he can distinguish his culture's version of a redneck from a sophisticate.

This is where I've thought about the applications of this idea to historical fiction in literature. Usually we expect dialogue to be written with a certain style fitting our expectation of the time period. But, what if the author says "fuck it" and goes with a different approach, embracing the use of modern language while keeping other aspects of the story authentic? Essentially, rendering the speech of characters in modern dialect/accent that reflects the relationship between the different classes of people, rather than trying to portray the sound of a foreign language that has been translated? You might think of it like a reverse Rome + Juliet. In Rome + Juliet, the setting was modern, but the dialogue was Shakesperean. In my idea, the setting is historical, but the dialogue is modern.

 

[IceGray]

Nautical fiction did something similar with sailor's jargon. You had to figure out the meaning but it added to the setting of being out at sea.

 

[Marco Fucko]

I can't remember which western show it was, but there was one where they kept using fuck and other modern words/turns of phrase to convey what the characters were saying. I'm thinking Deadwood but don't quote me on that.

Yeah I agree that that can definitely be useful, not just in dialogue but also in aesthetic and such. You mentioned Romeo + Juliet and I love that the aesthetic of Miami fuckboys conveys the utter stupidity of the "gang war" of the original. Speaking of Shakespeare adaptations, I'd absolutely be more fond of 'undercover' ones, i.e. the core story is there but the dialogue's modern and it's set somewhere and sometime else. Throne of Blood isn't the best example, but it's basically Macbeth wrapped up in the feudal samurai context more familiar to Japanese audiences, much like how some samurai movies were turned into westerns for western audiences.

In terms of JUST dialogue that's tough for me to think about off the top of my head. I'm thinking maybe Gangs of New York, since outside of Day Lewis' recreation of an older style of New York accent they speak pretty modernly to convey what would have been put in other terms were we actually viewing historical street gangsters.

Also the region in Japan you're referring to is Osaka.

 

[crocodilian]

Most creators don't really have a choice in the matter. Many accents in English hold a neutral connotation, but far more hold a very particular stigma. Indian accents are convenience store clerks or bumbling tech support; Chinese accents run the laundromat, restaurant or massage parlor; Wisconsin accents are naive moms and woolgathering bumpkins; Northeast accents (which nobody outside the region can seem to differentiate) are all mobsters, tough guys or morally-dubious shysters.

Also, the line between "authentic Frenchman speaking English" and "native English speaker doing a bad French accent" is extremely thin in the ears of most audiences. There's plenty of cases where a native speaker of some non-English language spoke with their natural accent for a project, but the audience figured it was an offensively incompetent voice actor.

The end result is most frequently a creator throwing up their hands and deciding "I'm not going to do authentic accents, I will just give everyone generic American accents so that the audience can't stereotype these characters before learning about them."

That being said, written word is very different. Virtually all authors will invoke the quirks of their learned dialect when translating it to paper. The sort of book you describe (fiction) is, above all else, the invocation of an author's personality. Whatever thoughts or theories this distinct personality produces is then funneled down and refined into some kind of story or anecdote which, obviously, will be based on the author's own life experiences. And these differ greatly based on where one grew up.

Most authors don't invoke foreign accents in written word for many reasons. It's uncomfortable, it's hard (or grating) to read, they have no interest in it, they're concerned about conveying it unconvincingly, etcetera.

 

[ScamL Likely]

Saying "fuck it" when it comes to any significant mechanical and subtextual nuances is pretty much the standard approach to modern writing no matter which genre you're talking about.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

That being said, written word is very different. Virtually all authors will invoke the quirks of their learned dialect when translating it to paper. The sort of book you describe (fiction) is, above all else, the invocation of an author's personality. Whatever thoughts or theories this distinct personality produces is then funneled down and refined into some kind of story or anecdote which, obviously, will be based on the author's own life experiences. And these differ greatly based on where one grew up.

Most authors don't invoke foreign accents in written word for many reasons. It's uncomfortable, it's hard (or grating) to read, they have no interest in it, they're concerned about conveying it unconvincingly, etcetera.

That's true. When I've dabbled in writing one of the main things I get complimented on is my ability to write Southern/Appalachian dialect, but I feel very uncomfortable when I try to render something like (an actual example) French. It feels cheap to not try, but it also feels cheesy/inauthentic.

It seems like authors writing for an audience from a foreign culture (such as the author of The Kite Runner) tend to do it by rendering dialogue in unaccented English sprinkled with foreign words that have extra weight placed on them (stuff that could be translated, but may justifiably use their native word, like greetings, or saying hacienda instead of estate, to give one example).

 

[Tragi-Chan]

I think one of the best at capturing a voice is George McDonald Fraser. The narrator of the Flashman Papers is a Victorian man and the language feels much more authentic than most historical fiction. Apparently Fraser consulted issues of Punch from the era to find out how people actually spoke and what slang they used.

There’s another one called Black Ajax that he set in the late 18th century that gave me my favourite euphemism for vomiting in the line, “I saw he was going to flash the hash again.”